Reverting to the earlier notion, let's
just say “a picture is worth a thousand words” and let it go at
that. Below a short sentence or two helps set the scene, but the details will have to wait until such time as we
reach a locale with faster Wi-Fi access ...
Today we were run up Mandalay Hill
early in the morning in the back of two pick-up trucks and were
“wowed” by both the temple we saw there and the views of the
surrounding countryside.
Then we stopped by to see Kuthodaw Paya, its seventy-two small shrines housing an alabaster stone chiseled copy of
the complete Buddhist scriptures. Impressive, indeed!
Our morning continued with a visit to
Schwenandaw Kyuang,which once served a Burmese king as a temporary residence while
his palace was being constructed. The low-lying, carved dark wooden
structure was quite stunning, clearly a Burmese national treasure!
We were unexpectedly invited to a
celebratory luncheon while visiting Myawaddy, a Buddhist nunnery where we later
enjoyed an extended question-and-answer session with three of the
nuns and had our photograph taken with the (quite charismatic)
abbess.
Later in the afternoon, we stopped by a street of alabaster stone carvers and an embroidery workshop on the way to watch the sun set from U Bein bridge, one of the world's longest wooden bridges famed for its sunrise and sunset views.
Yet another yummy Burmese dinner completed yet another wonderful, insight-filled day. During this particular day we took off our shoes at least four times and went barefoot whenever we entered any kind of sacred space, yet we enjoyed all our “barefoot experiences” immensely.
So, yes, dirty feet are happy ones, indeed!
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